The general character of the internal commerce between the North and South, between 1830 and 1860, differed but little from what it had been before the former year. There were no through rail connections between the two sections until near the close of the period, and consequently almost the entire commerce, aside from that in slaves and live stock, consisted of the trade on the waters of the Mississippi River system. This was the golden age of the river trade. Each year it grew steadily in volume, reaching a point of prosperity in 1860 never equalled before or since. Until the railroads began to divert the traffic in flour and provisions after 1850, the cities on the Ohio River sent most of the produce collected at their markets to New Orleans to be shipped to Europe and the Eastern States or to be sold to the planters of the cotton belt. After 1850, as the surplus agricultural produce of the Ohio Valley was diverted from the river, its place was taken by that coming from the fertile region around St. Louis, where thousands of immigrants were settling in new homes. Moreover, the loss of traffic in agricultural produce from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky was compensated for by the increasing volume of manufactured goods and coal coming down from Cincinnati, Louisville and Pittsburgh. Thus the downstream traffic from the Northern States, though suffering a heavy relative loss, made an absolute gain, and with the enormous amounts of cotton shipped down the river added to this traffic, the Mississippi carried considerably more produce to the sea than either the Hudson River or the eastern roads. As before 1830, the trade up the river failed to keep pace with the movement downstream. Of the shipments upstream, 75 per cent consisted of articles previously sent down and resold to planters of Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas. The district north of these states bought some sugar and coffee of New Orleans, but drew practically all its manufactures and other imported goods from the East. The value of the receipts of produce at New Orleans advanced from $22,000,000 in 1830 to $185,000,000 in 1860. The largest part of the increase resulted from the growth of the cotton trade. The receipts of "Western produce," which in 1820 formed 58 per cent of the commodities entering New Orleans, constituted only 23 per cent of the total receipts in 1860. But though showing a relative decline, the receipts of foodstuffs and merchandise had a steady aggregate increase. As a cotton market, New Orleans had no close rival. Its receipts of this great staple in 1860 amounted to $109,000,000.